Glow got my heart racing

2 min readOct 3, 2018

JMT DAY 3 — BANNER PEAK AND THOUSAND ISLAND LAKE AT SUNSET

Banner Peak and Thousand Island Lake at sunset: JMT201803001

Our third day #JMT stop was Thousand Island Lake with the iconic view of Banner Peak, which made our day extremely short, hiking only a couple of miles from Island Pass. Once we were settled at one of the campsites, we actually spent late morning swimming in the lake. The water was cold at first, not warm yet in the hazy morning sun, but we managed to enjoy our ‘bath’. We also washed our clothes (and dried in the hazy sun).

The short day meant that I had more time to scout the area. Especially I had backpacked here less than two months ago, so I wanted to photograph Banner Peak in different angles. I strolled down the shore and came across this spot. Just in time to capture the sunset glow on the rocks in the foreground.

The smoke was pretty bad for most of the day, which we thought was due to the Ferguson Fire, but later we learned that another fire called Lions Fire, near Devils Postpile, was to blame. For the last two days, we even hiked with the respirators that we brought on and off.

By the time when the sun was setting, the lake was clear of the smoke quite a bit, thanks to the windy, but it also meant no reflections in the water. Nonetheless, the sunset glow got my heart racing.

Thousand Island Lake, Inyo National Forest, CA

Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EF 16–35mm f/4L IS USM
17 mm / 5.5, 8 and 15 sec at ƒ/7.1 at ISO 100
Taken 8/8/2018
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